Big bore bulls of Brazil: J.T. says these big bore sixguns are good looking and great shooting

Guns Magazine, August, 2002 by John Taffin

Taurus revolvers have been around for a long time, providing exceptional value for the dollar. But, for me at least, there was always something missing in the area of aesthetics. They functioned well. But there was definitely something lacking in form. This changed in the late 1990s, so I'm assuming that someone came on board who understood what a sixgun should look like.

At the 1997 SHOT Show, Taurus unveiled a new big bore revolver. But before this, they once offered the Model 44, which was an extremely good shooting .44 Magnum that fell a little short in looks. Especially the barrel profile and the design of the stocks. They just didn't have that real sixgun look.

Someone obviously spent a good deal of time at the drawing board, and the result in 1997 was the first Raging Bull. The prototype displayed at that particular SHOT Show did not look as if it could handle the high pressures that come from firing such cartridges as the .454 Casull it was chambered for. In fact, this particular gun did not even appear to have a forcing cone.

Of course prototypes are not finished products. And a year later, when Taurus unveiled the Raging Bull in final production form, all who viewed it and handled it were quite impressed.

Perspective Of Time

Now four years later, and the Raging Bull has proven to be a raging success. Although first announced in a five shot .454 Casull, as well as six shot versions in .44 Magnum and .45 Colt, I personally have never seen one in .45 Colt. And I cannot say if any were ever produced.

I have had considerable experience shooting both a blue and a stainless .44 Magnum Raging Bull, as well as three of the .454 Casulls: an 8 inch blue model and two 6 inch stainless versions, one satin finished, the other wearing a high polish finish.

In shooting all five of these Raging Bulls, the only problem that surfaced was trying to ignite .454 Casulls with rifle primers when shooting double action. To my positive experience with these five Raging Bulls I have added a test of the newest version chambered in the newest sixgun cartridge -- the .480 Ruger. And the first order of business was a general look at the Raging Bull.

I have always been somewhat biased against foreign manufactured sixguns. Not because of their function or durability, but because of the subjective viewpoint that they simply do not please my eye. They just do not do anything for me artistically speaking, being about as exciting as a claw hammer or a nail gun.

This viewpoint changed with the advent of the Raging Bull, which to my eye is the best looking double action sixgun to come along since the original Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum of 1956.

Control Surfaces

Just about everything has been done right to both form and function. The trigger, the same width as the trigger guard, is smooth with no checkering or serrations to irritate the trigger finger during long strings of fire.

At the same time, the hammer spur has the right amount of checkering to allow for positive cocking in single action fire. This user friendly checkering is also carried out on both cylinder release latches, giving a non-slip surface that does not bite into either thumb when operated.

It does take two thumbs to open the Raging Bull's cylinder. A conventional latch is positioned on the left side of the frame behind the recoil shield while the second locking latch is on the crane in front of the cylinder. This provides a secure lockup of the cylinder, and both latches must be pressed in unison to unlock and open the gun. There is no locking latch at the end of the ejector rod. The cylinder of the Raging Bull measures 1.770 inch in diameter with a length of 1.760 inch.

The heavy barrels of all Raging Bulls are of the full under-lugged variety with a recess for the ejector rod. Integral to each barrel is a heavy rib with three ventilated slots on the 6.5 inch versions and with one more added for 8 3/8 inch barrel lengths. Barrel, underlug, and ventilated rib are all machined from one solid piece of steel as is the ramp for the front sight. This heavy barrel measures 1.650 inches from top to bottom and when viewed from the front can be seen to taper from the center to the top of the rib and the bottom of the underlug.

Adaptable Sights

The front sight itself is a pinned-in-place black blade mated with a fully adjustable rear sight. The rear sight blade is slanted to prevent glare. At this stage of my life, this is the best type of sight for my eyes. Since the front sight blade is pinned in place, a blade of different height or thickness can be easily substituted.

For my use, I needed to change the front sight blade on the .44 Magnum Raging Bull. With the rear sight bottomed out, both 240 and 300 grain bullets shoot high. The same situation exists when using 400 grain bullets in the .480. A taller front sight blade will take care of this.

The barrel is ported below the front sight to help control muzzle flip when shooting full house loads. Barrels are not rifled in the ported area, so in reality a 6.5 inch barrel is really slightly over five inches in bore length, while the 8 3/8 inch versions are rifled for approximately seven inches. This does not seem to have any adverse effect on muzzle velocity, for these are relatively "fast-shooting" revolvers.